Dante Exum weighing college options for 2014 before making NBA draft decision

Fri 20 Dec 2013, 7:21 PM AEDT

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Nearing decision time ... Dante Exum is weighing up his college basketball options before making a call on whether or not he should declare for the 2014 NBA draft.

Getty Images: Robert Serra

Australian teenage basketball sensation Dante Exum may not be going straight into the NBA.

The 18-year-old from Canberra told ESPN he plans to visit five of America's elite colleges before making a decision on whether to enter the June 26 NBA draft.

Exum will tour Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina and Oregon.

The alumni of those schools include some of the NBA's best, both past and present, with stars like Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Chris Webber, Rajon Rondo and Anthony Davis all hailing from those schools.

If Exum does decide to go to college, it would be something of a risk for the 198cm point guard.

Despite being a prospect in one of the strongest drafts in decades, Exum is tipped to be a top-five pick without playing a second of college basketball thanks to a long apprenticeship at the Australian Institute of Sport.

And if selected in the top five, he can expect a $US5 million ($A5.66 million) rookie contract.

America's top sports agents will be flying to Australia in the next month in the hope of representing Exum if he turns pro.

If Exum elects to play college basketball and does not live up to the hype or suffers an injury, his NBA draft stock could fall.

And Australian NBA centre Andrew Bogut told Melbourne's SEN Radio early in December Exum should not risk such an eventuality.

"He's a projected top-five pick and he could go to college and risk getting hurt," Bogut said.

"You're also under the pressure of the scouts - they start to nitpick a little bit so it could hurt your spot as well."

Bogut, who was the first Australian to be drafted at number one after he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2005, also tipped the young Canberran would heed his advice.

"I think he'll do the smart thing," he said.

"I think he'll end up coming over here a little earlier and just training and working out and then enter the draft."